


Take My Chances Here, With You

by itsallwineglasses



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Declarations Of Love, Fluff, M/M, Reconciliation, emotional closure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-08
Updated: 2017-03-08
Packaged: 2018-09-30 18:39:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10169345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsallwineglasses/pseuds/itsallwineglasses
Summary: It’s been a long road, and finally Soldier 76 and Reaper are on the cusp of finding the people who destroyed Overwatch. They had to work together to get this far, but now they’re at a crossroads; once they’ve got their answers, do they leave things as they are and go their separate ways? Or do they take the chance to rebuild things between them?“There’s a voice at the back of his mind shouting that this is a stupid thing to do, that he’s just asking to get hurt, but Jack is already near crushed under the weight of regret over things he could have done and didn’t. There’s a limit to what he can carry, and losing Gabriel again without even trying to hold on to him is far beyond it.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Reaper76 Week Day 7 - Comfort/Fluff, and brought across from [my tumblr](https://itsallwineglasses.tumblr.com/post/156140250586/take-my-chances-here-with-you)

It’s a quiet moment. Those seem to be happening more and more often in this uneasy truce between him and Gabriel. They have a target, the data bank of a company that’s been making under the table payments to UN officials, that should hold the key to the answers they’re both seeking. They just need to pass some time before it’ll be safe to infiltrate.

Jack’s feeling…odd. There’s a tightness at the back of his throat that he associates with choking back tears, but he’s not upset. He’s jittery, more or less. Warmth sits weighty in his chest. He’s sat down to pull off his mask and clean it by feel, because movement is grounding and he’d rather do this than pace.

Without the visor the world is reduced to smudges of colour that are swallowed by blackness in patches where his sight fails entirely. Normally he would never take it off outside of his own safe house, but here and now he trusts Gabriel to have his back. He might be harder to read as Reaper than he ever was when he was just Gabe, but he won’t be able to get his hands on this information without Jack backing him up.

What’ll happen after they’ve both got what they need, though, Jack’s not so sure. Probably they’ll part on neutral terms and never see each other again. If the careful peace between them lasts past the night, beyond the end of the ceasefire they’d agreed on to be able to get what they’re both after. That would be better than what he’d expected at the start of all this, back when he was counting down the minutes until he could see the back of Reaper. But he’d thought, then, that Gabriel Reyes was dead in a far more literal sense than Jack Morrison and that Reaper was somewhere between a twisted imitation and a hollow husk.

Jack’s memories of Gabriel are woven so tightly into the core of who he is that he couldn’t pull them out without unravelling himself as well. He wouldn’t have been able to stop himself from recognising his lover in Reaper – his theatrics, his dry sarcasm, the slow burn of his anger – even if he’d known he needed to.

The realisation this is Gabriel – _Gabe_ , back from the dead, Jesus – shifted something in their partnership, like a wall that Jack had been running up against had vanished. Like he’d tumbled off the edge of something and into freefall; a rush that puts his heart in his mouth, grows more consuming the longer it goes on and drowns out everything else.

Gabe’s hand settles on his shoulder. It’s a careful movement, deliberately too gentle to startle. Jack feels goosebumps spread out from the point of contact, flowing down his back in a tingling wave. “You alright?”

He realises that he’s been holding his mask limply in his lap, just staring out into space.

Jack goes to brush the question off, but the words stick in his throat. He’s not really sure what he’s feeling. Something big, something that hurts to acknowledge. It’s been a long time since anyone asked him if he was okay.

“What’s going to happen, after this?” Jack says.

He wishes he could see with any kind of clarity, because he can tell that something’s changed in how Gabe’s holding himself but he can’t tell what or if it means anything. As it is, Gabe’s just a black blur with a tell tale lack of white that means he’s taken off his mask.

“I’m not still planning to kill you, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Gabriel says.

He moves to lift his hand off Jack’s shoulder. Jack catches his wrist to keep it there. “Didn’t think you were.”

He had, when they first teamed up. Thought that maybe Reaper was looking for an opportunity to stab him in the back. But across the months Jack’s gotten the feeling this is personal for Gabe, and if there’s one thing in the world that Jack still trusts it’s that righteous fury of Gabriel’s when he thinks he’s been wronged. Gabe’s always treated his own anger like it’s a debt to square.

Jack continues, “are you going to go back to working for Talon? Working your way down your list?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” Gabriel says, quietly.

He tightens his grip on Gabe’s wrist, feels him solid and alive under his palm. “We could keep on working together. I could use your help holding the people that scuttled Overwatch to account.”

There’s a hiss of air, like Gabe’s sucked a breath in through his teeth. “Do you really want me to stick around? Doesn’t seem like a good idea, having a monster at your back.”

A monster, right. Jack’d call bullshit on that, but he knows that Gabe will just get confrontational about it.

“Hey, we do okay when we have something to punch besides each other.” Jack tries to say it lightly, but doesn’t quite manage it. He swallows. There’s a voice at the back of his mind shouting that this is stupid thing to do, that he’s just asking to get hurt, but Jack is already near crushed under the weight of regret over things he could have done and didn’t. There’s a limit to what he can carry, and losing Gabriel again without even trying to hold on to him is far beyond it.

Gabe doesn’t respond, and Jack can’t read the tone of the silence. He would give his hind teeth to be able to _see_ Gabe. Just to get a sense of whether he’s crossed some kind of line, but the moment’s too fragile. They’re both too vulnerable, right here and now, for him to put on his mask. It would close a door that he wants to leave open.

Gabriel tugs his arm in Jack’s grip again, and this time Jack lets him go.

But he doesn’t pull away. He catches Jack’s hand and laces their fingers together.

There’s that rush, like Jack’s heart is in his mouth.

“Alright.” Gabriel murmurs.

Jack hadn’t realised how wound tight he’s been until the tension flows out of him in a wash of relief. Gabe _wants_ to continue their partnership. Wants a chance to rebuild things between them. The warmth that’s been coiled in his chest unfurls through his whole body, a pleasant languor in his limbs like the buzz after a few beers.

And with the barbs of anxiety taken off, the name of what he’s feeling comes into focus with a bloom of nostalgia. A sudden recognition like spotting an old friend in a crowd after years apart.

“I’m in love with you.” Jack says. It just kind of falls out. “Still. Or again, maybe.”

Gabe honest to god snorts in that way he always has when laughter takes him by surprise, recognisable even through the changes in his voice.

“It’s not a competition, boy scout. No one’s going to give you a badge for making the most dramatic statement.”

And, fair call, possibly that was way too soon and kind of a stupid thing to say considering the decades of shit that’s piled up between them, but the brush off still stings, alright.

He ducks his head and looks away from Gabe, even if the gesture is more or less symbolic all things considered. “I’m just trying to be honest -”

Gabe cuts him off by using their linked hands to yank him up. His visor slips out of his loose grip and it’s a miracle he doesn’t step on it as he stumbles to find his feet, catching himself one handed on Gabe’s chest because his other’s still linked with Gabriel’s and the bastard has dug his claws in and won’t let go.

Jack’s halfway through a very heartfelt _what the hell_ when he feels cold points of metal on his jaw. His brain connects the dots and parses this as a clawed hand cupping his face right as Gabriel leans in and kisses him.

He can feel the curve of Gabe’s grin against his own lips, the tender close-mouthed press of it.

It’s like something that was broken snaps back into alignment inside Jack, a swell of _right_ that roars through him. The world narrows down to Gabriel against him, to where their lips meet. It’s tentative, soft. Almost like a question. Or an answer.

Jack pulls back to break the kiss, and he can feel the muscles of Gabriel’s chest flex under his hand as Gabe sways forwards to chase his mouth.

“Is this an ‘I love you too’?” Jack grins.

“It is.” Gabriel’s hand slides up past the hinge of his jaw to cradle the back of Jack’s head, a light pressure encouraging him to lean back in.

Jack goes with it, because he wants to, and kisses Gabe again.

Jack feels elated, almost like he’s floating. He never thought this would be something he would get to have again.

In a few hours they’ll finally have the names of the people who took down Overwatch. That’s as far as necessity will keep them together.

Jack squeezes their entwined fingers, and Gabe hums against his mouth in response. Every moment after that, they’ll be together because they want to be.


End file.
